Norwegian Jade Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,043 reviews

A cruise skeptic shares her review of her very first cruise.

Review for the British Isles & Western Europe Cruise on Norwegian Jade
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Molliemp
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Jul 2017
Cabin: Mid-Ship Balcony
Traveled with children

As my mother-in-law has always wanted to see the Norwegian fjords, we began looking for cruises that would allow her that opportunity. After initially being booked on a Windstar cruise with a similar itinerary, we decided to cancel that reservation and cruise with Norwegian both to save money and to have more dining and entertainment option for our 13 year old daughter who also traveled with my mother-in-law, my husband and I. Full disclosure, this was my first cruise ever and I was concerned that I would not like cruising.

We arrived in Hamburg the day before the flight and stayed at the Lindner Hotel Am Michel. I highly recommend this hotel. Not only was it in a good area near St. Michael's (which has a day and night viewing deck...don't miss it!), the rooms were modern, spacious and well kept. We had a two room suite with a balcony overlooking the city rooftops. The staff was excellent as well.

After arriving at the Altona Cruise Terminal on the day the cruise departed, we quickly dropped off our bags and then waited in an excessively long line. Having never cruised before, I wondered if this was normal. But, other experienced cruisers, like my mother-in-law and husband, as well as people we met in line, assured me that this was out of the ordinary. I don't know what the hold up was, perhaps it has to do with the fact that the higher Latitudes Rewards members can skip the line, but I found the embarkation process to be very slow.

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Balcony

Cabin BA

I found my 10th deck balcony stateroom to be bigger than I had expected with plenty of room to store all of our stuff for a two week cooler weather vacation. My husband and I shared one stateroom while my daughter and mother-in-law shared the adjoining stateroom. There was an interior door between the two rooms as well. Their room felt slightly more cramped to me as the beds were separated with a small table between them leaving less room around the edges. I found the bathroom and shower to be of adequate size. I read reviews of the Jade on Cruise Critic before I left saying that the stateroom bathrooms were especially small. My husband and I are both large people and had no problem in either the toilet or the shower which are separated by a sink area and can be individually closed off by sliding doors. I also thought that the balcony, equipped with a small table and two comfortable chairs, was an adequate size. The USB ports under the light fixtures next to the bed were very useful and I found the bed to be comfortable as was the small coach near the balcony door. There was a clothes line in the shower.

Port Reviews

Hamburg

St. Michael's Church is a must see. The day and night viewing deck is fabulous!

Lerwick (Shetland Islands)

We toured on our own in the morning and saw the Broch of Clickimin, some of the stained glass windows at TownHall and the Shetland Museum. We had lunch at Hay's Dock which I would highly recommend! in the afternoon we took an NCL excursion: Scalloway Castle and Shetland ponies. It was good although I was somewhat disappointed with the Shetland pony portion as it was just a stop for 15 minutes or so at the side of the road. Overall, Lerwick is an excellent port and I would highly recommend it even though we visited in pouring rain!

Kirkwall

I loved, loved, loved this port. We booked a semi-private tour (15 people) with Orkney Aspects. Anne, the tour guide was great. We visited The Standing Stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brogher, Skara Brea, Skaill House, the Scapa Flow and Maeshowe. We had a wonderful high tea at the Birsay Tea Room. Our tour ended at St. Magnus Cathedral before we were dropped back to the ship. I'd highly recommend this company and Orkney!

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